Former Central Bank of Kenya Governor Nahashon Nyaga is warning investors who plan to invest in the troubled Tatu City to do so with caution.
Addressing the parliamentary committee on land, Nyaga said that court battles have put the multi-billion project at a standstill.
Tatu City directors have been accused by Kiambu residents of evading tax amounting to Sh1.5 billion.
The project is plagued with unclear operations that led to foreign investors taking its full control, and efforts to unearth the alleged fraudulent conduct on the part of the foreign shareholders have been futile.
Nyaga asked the Director of Public Prosecutions to investigate the foreign investors, adding that local shareholders are the brainchild of Tatu City.
“The harm being done is not just against me and the shareholders but against the entire Republic of Kenya. It is my prayer that the DCI will intervene and all the matters surrounding Tatu City resolved,” said Nyaga.
Nyaga blew the whistle to interested investors, saying that anyone who buys land there will not get full ownership and it will be at their own risk.
“If conducted as ordered by various court proceedings, then the shareholders will be safe; but I must warn that the property is under control of foreign investors and directors now, and if anyone purchases the land, they are not given full ownership. So, in case something happens and the foreigners take off it’s at your own peril,” Nyaga warned.
The MPs were however not fully satisfied with Nyaga’s submission and questioned how a shareholder and a director of such a property allowed foreign investors to take over what he terms his.
“You said you are the chairman, director and a shareholder of Tatu City but you cannot access some documents and you even have to go through a security search. It is like building your own house then a stranger throws you out. Is that possible?” asked Githunguri MP Gabriel Kago.
In a petition, over 1,300 Kenyan shareholders claim they bought shares from the two companies – Tatu City Ltd and Kofinaf Company Ltd – in 2007 for Sh200,000 each at the firms’ invitation, but have not been compensated for their investments despite a court order.
A multi-agency task-force that was established in 2016 to investigate Tatu City is yet to make available the report of its findings.
According to their website, Tatu City has opened a new building dedicated to the Tatu City Training Academy, and the program has trained three classes from the community living around Tatu City in skills such as masonry, plasterwork, and tiling. Also, the website announced that South Africa’s private education firm, Advtech will open a school under its Crawford Schools brand in September in Kiambu’s Tatu City.